Machine for the manufacture of filters for cigarettes



Feb. 14, 1939. Q AH'NE 2,147,278

MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FILTERS FOR CIGARETTES Filed Jan. 3, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 14-, 1939. Q HN 2,147,278

MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FILTERS FOR CIGARETTES Filed Jan. 3, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 14, 1939 l 1 MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FILTER-S FOR CIGARETTES Otto Ahne, Dresden, Germany, assignor toUniverselle Cigarettenmaschinen-Fabrik J. C. Mueller & 00., Dresden, Germany Application January 3, 1936, Serial No. 57,428

In Germany January 10, 1935 16 Claims. (Cl. 93- 77) This invention relates to the manufacture of by a gear train 49, 59 and 5|, the gear 49 being cigarettes and more particularly to the manufac-, secured to a shaft 52 having a beveled gear 53 ture of a filter at the inner end of the cigarette. secured thereto which meshes with a beveled gear An object of this invention is to provide a ma- 54 mounted on a shaft 55. The shaft 55 also has 5 chine for the manufacture of filters which are so a second beveled gear 56 secured thereto which 5 constructed that they can be readily inserted into meshes with a beveled gear 51 mounted on the the inner end of the cigarette. drive shaft 3|. The end of the strip 2 is initially Another object of this invention is to provide threaded into a guide channel 4 which is secured a rolling machine for rolling the filter, the mato the frame F and this guide channel 4 is prefer-' 1O chine being so constructed that the filter may be ably open at the top. 1 taken off of a supply roll in a substantially con- An arm mounted on a shaft 6 supported above tinuous operation. the guide 4 engages the upper surface of the A fiuther object of this invention is to provide Strip 2 disposed Within the guide Channel 4 d a machine for the manufacture of a filtering serves as a holding means to prevent reverse means which eliminates the use of a fine meshed ovement of the str p 2. The arm 5 also has an 15 sieve or a filter cloth so that the smoke will be extension 1 which o engages with e Strip 2 filtered in its passage from the tobacco through and holds this strip 2 against reverse movement the mouthpiece of which the filter forms a part. as W be hereinafter described- With the foregoing and other objects in view, A Strip Shifting member l3 W c is carr ed by the invention will be more fully described herean arm l4 fixedlymounted on a shaft I5 is adapt- 20 inafter, and will be more particularly pointed out ed to move the strip 2 longitudinally of the guide in the claims appended hereto. channel 4. The shaft l5 has a hub l6 mounted In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to loosely thereon which is provided with a pitman like or corresponding parts throughout the several l1 rockably secured to a slide member 18 slidably views, engaging guides 19 disposed-in parallel relation 25 Figure 1 is a detail side elevation of a machine to the guide channel 4 and positioned thereabove. constructed according to an embodiment of this A pitman 2| is secured as at 20 to the slide 18 and invention. is secured as at 22 to a plate 23 mounted on a driv- Figure 2 is atop plan of the machine. ing shaft 24. The pin or connection 22 for the Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevapitman 2| is mounted eccentrically on the plate 30 tion of the filter rolling means. 23 so that the slide I8 will reciprocate back and Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of the forth on the guide [9 with the rotation of the filter rolling means showing a filter roll in procplate 23 and the shaft 24.

ess of manufacture. The strip shifting member [3 is formed substan- Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken tially G-shaped and the lower or free end of the 35 on the line VV of Figure 1. shifting member I3 is provided with tangs 28 Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view partly which are adapted to pierce and project through in top plan taken on the line VI-VI of Figure 3. the strip 2 adjacent the side edges thereof between Referring to the drawings wherein like symbols the open portion of the channel 4. Preferably, 40 designate corresponding parts throughout the the channel 4 is provided for a portion of its 40 several views, the letter F designates generally a length with longitudinally extending and spaced frame structure of suitable construction and the apart parallel grooves 29 in which the tangs 28 numeral la designates a shaft mounted in the freely slide. frame F and upon which a supply roll I is ro- In order to provide a means whereby the strip tatably mounted. The supply roll I carries a shifting member I3 is moved to an inoperative 45 strip 2 of flexible material which may be of paper position during one cycle or movement thereof or cellulose material of a suitable degree of fine- I have provided an arm 45 which is fixedly seness which is drawn off of the supply roll I in cured to the shaft l5 and extends vertically therethe direction shown by the arrow in Figure 1. from. An elongated rod 21 is fixedly secured at 5 The filter strip 2 passes between opposed rollers one end to the arm 45 and the opposite end of 3 which are connected as by gears or other suitthe rod 21 is slidably secured as by a guide means able driving means to a driving mechanism and 46 to one end of a bell crank 43. The bell crank after the filter strip 2 is drawn through the pulling 43 is rockably mounted on a shaft 41 secured to rollers 3 the strip 2 drops downwardly and forms the frame F and the other end of the bell crank a loop designated 2a. The rollers 3 are rotated 43 engages as at 44 in a cam groove 25 formed 55 in a plate 48 which is fixed to the driven shaft 24. A spring 26 is connected at one end to the connecting rod I! and at the other end to the elongated rod 21 and serves to yieldably hold the roller 44 against the cam surface in the groove 25. The shape of the cam groove 25 is such that during the forward movement of the strip shifting member l3 the shifting member I3 will be in its lowered position where the prongs 28 will project through the strip 2 and in the return movement of the shifting member I3 this member will be raised and held in the raised position until the shifting member I3 is at the end of its inoperative stroke.

A rolling drum 30 is secured to a drive shaft 3I connected to a suitable source of driving means (not shown) and this drum or roller 30 is provided with a pair of semi-circular ribs 32 on the opposite sides thereof which are spaced apart substantially a distance equal to the width of the strip 2. In order to provide a means whereby the strip 2 is initially started as a roll so that a predetermined length of strip may be rolled up in spiral form I have provided a cam member 35 which is secured to a shaft 34 and is disposed above the roll forming drum 30. The cam member 35 has a centrally disposed annular groove 33 and an elongated rail 31 loosely engages within this annular groove 33. The rail 31 is substantially straight and extends the guide 4 as shown in Figures 3, 4 and 6. The rail 31 is attached as at 38 to a segmental rolling jacket 39 which is fixed in any suitable manner to the frame F. The strip shifting member I3 is provided on its lower or strip engaging end with fingers 40 engaging on opposite sides of the rail 3'! so that the shifting member I3 may be moved to a relatively close position with respect to the roll starting cam 35.

At the time that the strip shifting member reaches substantially its forward position the strip 2 is cut off by means of a fixed knife 9 which is secured to the frame F beneath the guide 4 and a rotating or swinging knife III carried by an arm I I which is secured to a rotating shaft I2. The knife I0 swings in a space 8 formed by cutting oif the guide 4 for a portion of its length. The strip holding member I is disposed closely adjacent the forward end of the knife 9 but is disposed a sufficient distance away from the cutting edge thereof so that the strip shifting member I3 may grip the strip and as shown in Figure 2, the strip holding member I is relatively narrow so that it may engage between the fingers 40.

In the operation of this device, the strip 2 is initially threaded between the rollers 3 and then threaded into the guide 4 to a point substantially at the cutting edge of the knife 9. The shaft Ia will rotate continuously and when the strip 2 is not being pulled by the shifting member I3, the strip 2 will move downwardly to form the loop 2a. Assuming that the shifting member I3 is at the beginning of its pulling stroke which is the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, the cam member 25 will maintain the rod 21 in its lowermost position so that the pulling member I3 will be lowered sufficiently so that the prongs 28 will pierce the strip 22. The eccentric plate 23 will at this time cause the pulling member I 3 to move forwardly or to the right as viewed in Figure 1.

The point at which the pulling member I3 engages the strip 2 will be slightly rearwardly of the free end thereof so that when the eccentric plate 23 moves the pulling member I3 to subforwardly over stantially the point shown in full lines in Figures 1 and 3, the free end of the strip 2 will strike the roll starting cam 35, which at this time will be in substantially contacting position with the surface of the rolling member 30. Preferably, the surface of the cam 35 is roughened or serrated so that the forward end of the strip 2 will be turned up and also rolled over in the manner shown in Figure 3. This cam 35 is so formed that the filter strip is initially started in the form of a roll as shown in Figure 3. As seen from the drawings, the cam 35 is spirally shaped or shaped in the nature of an evolute. Considered in the direction of the rotation of the cam member 35 as shown by the arrow showing the direction of rotation in Figures 1, 3 and 4, the largest radius of the cam is in advance of the gradually diminishing radii. At the time that the free end of the strip 2 contacts with the cam 35 the fingers 40 serve as a holding means to prevent rearward movement of the strip and so that the free end of the strip may be started in its spiral form. At substantially the moment that the pulling member I3 finishes its forward stroke the rotating knife III will cut off the strip 2 in order that the strip thus cut off may be drawn toward the cam 35 and the rolling drum 30 under the action of the winding up process. After the cam 35 has started the free end of the strip 2 and one or more complete turns have been formed the roll will contact with the rail 31 which is stationary and by reason of the stationary rail 31 and the fact that the cam 35 has turned to a substantially disengaged position the rotation of the drum or rolling member 30 will effect movement of the roll designated P in the rolling space M between the jacket 39 and the drum 30.

The ribs 32 are of a suificient length so that the cut off strip 2 will be completely rolled in a spiral form before the roll reaches the end of the jacket 39. When the roll P reaches a point substantially at the end of the jacket 39 the unribbed portion of the rolling member 30 will be disposed in contacting relation with the roll and at this point a laterally shiftable member 42 connected to a shifting mechanism (not shown) will shift the completed filtering member which will then be carried or otherwise moved to apoint where the filtering member is incorporated into a cigarette construction. The ribs 32 are also spaced apart a suificient distance so that the forming roll will not twist or turn laterally as it moves along the roll forming jacket 39.

I do not wish to be restricted to the size, form and proportions of the various parts, and ob viously changes could be made in the construction herein described without departing from the spirit of the invention, it being only necessary that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a sheet rolling means, including a guide means for the sheet and a rolling device at an end of the guide means; a reciprocable sheet pulling member including an arcuate member provided with sheet engaging means at one end thereof consisting of hooks of different angularity, operating means for said pulling member, means engaging said pulling member operable at one end of the movement thereof to move the pulling member downwardly to sheet engaging position to enable the hooks to engage the sheet and operable at the other end of the movement thereof to move the hooks of the pulling member to disengaged position relative to the sheet.

2. A filter forming means. for a cigarette having .a filter sheet supply roll and means for supporting the same, comprising a guide means disposed to receive the free end of the filter sheet of the supply roll, a stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, and a rotatable cam-shaped roll starting member associated with each of said forming members, the cam of said roll being substantially spirally shaped.

3. A filter forming means for a cigarette having a filter sheet supply roll and means for supporting the same, comprising a guide means disposed to receive the free end of the filter sheet of the supply roll, a reciprocable sheet pulling member, operating means for the pulling member, a stationary roll forming member, a rotatable forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, a rotatable cam-shaped roll starting member associated with each of said forming members, dependent sheet piercing tangs carried by said pulling member, and a pair of forwardly projecting members carried by said pulling member engageable with the surface of the sheet to hold the sheet against bending during the roll starting period.

4. A filter forming means ing a filter sheet supply roll and for a cigarette havmeans for supporting the same, comprising a guide means disposed to receive the free end of the filter sheet of the supply'roll, a reciprocable sheet pulling member, operating means for the pulling member, a continuously operating feeding means intermediate one end of said guide means and said supply roll, roll forming means at the opposite end of said guide means, said operating means including a slide member, slide reciprocating means, and means for vertically moving said puiling member at each end of the stroke thereof.

5. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable member, means for feeding a sheet between said members, a cam shaped roll starting member operatively associated with said first members, said cam shaped member having a curve diminishing in radii in the direction of rotation of the cam, and means for rotating the cam in a direction opposite to the direction of the rotatable roll forming member.

6. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable member, means for feeding a sheet between said members, a cam shaped roll starting member operatively associated with said first members, said feeding eans including means engageable with the sheet during the roll starting operation whereby to hold the sheet against bending at a point spaced from said roll starting member.

'7. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable member, reciprocable feeding means for feeding the sheet toward said roll forming members, a rotatable roll starting member, and means carried by said feeding means engageable with the sheet during the roll starting operation to hold that portion of the closely adjacent said roll starting member against bending.

8. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising a pair of roll forming members, a rotatable cam-shaped roll starting member, and means for feeding a sheet toward said roll forming members, the cam having a curvature disposed in respect to the direction of rotation of the roll, so that the largest radius of the cam acts upon the rolled sheet before portions of lesser radii of the cam act upon the same.

9. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising a pair of roll forming members, a rotatable cam-shaped roll starting member, reciprocable sheet feeding means, and means connected to said feeding means whereby to move said feeding means into engagement with the sheet at one end of the movement thereof and to" move said feeding means away from the sheet at the opposite end of the movement thereof, the cam having a curvature disposed in respect to the direction of rotation of the roll, so that the largest radius of the cam acts upon the rolled sheet before portions of lesser radii of the cam act upon the same.

10. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable member, reciprocable feeding means for feeding the sheet toward said roll forming members, a rotatable roll starting member, means carried by said feeding means engageable with the sheet during the roll starting operation to hold that portion of the sheet closely adjacent said roll starting member against bending, means for reciprocally moving the feeding means, including a disc, a cam on said disc, an extension on said feeding means, a rod connected with said extension and engaging at its other said cam, a second rod connected pivotally at one end with said disc, a piston connected pivotally with the other end of said second rod, and means connected with said piston and pivotally connected with said extension, whereby upon the rotation of the disc, the feeding means is periodically reciprocated and raised and lowered in respect to said sheet.

11. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable member, reciprocable feeding means for feeding the sheet toward said roll forming members, a rotatable roll starting member, means carried by said feeding means engageable with the sheet during the roll starting operation to hold that portion of the sheet closely adjacent said roll starting member against bending, means for reciprocally moving the feeding means, including a disc, a cam on said disc, an extension on said feeding means, a rod connected with said extension and engaging at its other said cam, a second rod connected pivotally at one end with said disc, a piston connected pivotally with the other end of said second rod, and means connected with said piston and pivotally connected with said extension, said sheet engaging means including hooks disposed at different angles, whereby upon the rotation of the disc, the feeding means is periodically reciprocated and raised and lowered in respect to said sheet.

12. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable member, reciprocable feeding means for feeding the sheet toward said roll forming members, a rotatable roll starting member, and means carried by said feeding means engageable with the sheet during the roll starting operation to hold that portion of the sheet closely adjacent said roll starting member against bending, said rotatable roll starting member having a groove, a guide having a channel, and a guide rail movable within the channel of the guide and within the groove.

13. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable member, reciprocable feeding means for feeding the sheet toward said roll forming members, a rotatable roll starting member, and means carried by said feeding means engageable with the sheet during the roll starting operation to hold that portion of the sheet closely adjacent said roll starting member agains bending, said rotatable roll starting member having a groove, a guide having a channel, and a guide rail movable within the channel of the guide and within the groove, said cam-shaped member having roughened surfaces to engage the sheet.

14. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated with said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable,member, reciprocable feeding means for feeding the sheet toward said roll forming members, a rotatable roll starting member, means carried by said feeding means engageable with the sheet during the roll starting operation to hold that portion of the sheet close- 1y adjacent said roll starting member against bending, and a weighted arm for holding the sheet before the same reaches the aforesaid feeding means.

15. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, with said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable member, reciprocable feeding means for feeding the sheet toward said roll forming members, a rotatable roll starting member, means carried by said feeding means engageable with the sheet during the roll starting operation to hold that portion of the sheet closely adjacent said roll starting member against bending, and a Weighted arm for holding the sheet before the same reaches the aforesaid feeding means, said feeding means including fingers spaced in respect to the sheet and an extension on said arm adapted to move below the sheet and between the fingers of said feeding means.

16. A filter forming means for a cigarette comprising an arcuate stationary roll forming member, a rotatable roll forming member associated With said stationary roll forming member, operating means for said rotatable member, reciprocable feeding means for feeding the sheet toward said roll forming members, a rotatable roll starting member, means carried by said feeding means engageable with the sheet during the roll starting operation to hold that portion of the sheet closely adjacent said roll starting member against bending, and ribs spaced the length of the rolled sheet on said rotatable roll forming member.

OTTO AHNE.

a rotatable roll forming member associated. 

